Mobile devices increasingly have the ability to communicate with other devices via a local wireless technology, such as Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, or ZigBee®. A common use of this capability enables a mobile device, such as a smart phone, to automatically find, and with user authorization connect to, a local area network via a wireless adapter that offers significantly higher bandwidth than wide area network (WAN) technologies. Machines, such as automobiles, also increasingly have local wireless technology capabilities. For example, newer automobiles frequently have the capability of communicating with a user's cellular phone via a local wireless technology to provide hands-free operation of the phone while driving.
There are situations where a user is in proximity to a machine and may desire to know information about the machine. For example, the user may have a choice of multiple different vehicles to rent, and may desire to access information about the vehicles. Such information may be provided, for example, by web service companies such as CARFAX®, which might include information such as maintenance records to help the user decide which of the multiple different vehicles to select. Similarly, a potential purchaser of a vehicle such as an automobile may be in proximity to an automobile that has been offered for sale, and may be interested in accessing information about the automobile, such as asking price, number of hours the automobile has been operated, previous maintenance performed on the automobile, and the like. Accordingly, there is a need for a mobile-device-to-machine managing method that is capable of controlling communications between a mobile device and a mobile or stationary machine.